Calls

After Evil Dead and Don't Breathe, Fede Alvarez experiments and creates more or less a new subgenre of horror and for me he succeeded. The mini-series has nice episodes mostly 15 minutes each. It's all done with phones and voices, and you wouldn't believe how uncomfortably stiffing the atmosphere can get at times. Not a single story is downright bad, they all balance between average to above average (the best were 2, 3, 5, and 8). I like that they all have one thing in common and that is a time paradox. Alvarez takes on a looming post-apocalyptic event, cosmic dimensions, time travel between past, present and future, physics and science, and goes about it in a decidedly intelligent and engaging way. The episodes feature a lot of familiar actors, have an interesting story, the atmosphere is nicely mysterious and it's definitely pretty creepy and chilling in places. At the end, everything is nicely explained and a story of apocalyptic proportions is concluded. I enjoyed it, I had fun, but this form doesn't suit everyone, I'm open to new possibilities and originality is to be appreciated. 8/10. (03/19/2021)

I acknowledge, original idea. Where else to place a series of alternative phone calls playing with timelines than on Apple TV. I also acknowledge that some episodes had a very good atmosphere. However, everything is very much about the effect and all the ideas are purely nonsense. Nevertheless, each episode confirms that time is relative. Albert Einstein would be pleased. (03/30/2021)

A series of short radio plays delivered as a TV show. But every now and again, why not? They are small and simple stories about a mysterious phenomenon that allows people to make phone calls across time, and it’s linked to other, not very pleasant, apocalyptic consequences. A few episodes manage to build pretty tense situations (4*), while in others the interactions between the characters are pretty unconvincing (2* - 3*). But overall, it’s alright. (03/23/2021)